September 19, 2006

La Grange moving ahead with housing plan for Lot 2

The Village of La Grange will begin negotiations with one of two developers who submitted proposals to build housing on Parking Lot 2, located at Harris and 6th Aves.

Brownstone Development Group last night was chosen by a consensus vote of the Village Board, meeting as an executive committee in a workshop to discuss the two developers' proposals. The other developer considered was Norwood Builders, who built Beacon Place condominiums on Ogden Ave.

Both developers had presented proposals for development of Lot 2 to the Board during its regular session Aug. 28 .

Village staff was directed to contact Brownstone and begin work on a formal proposal and preliminary site plan. That plan is likely to include development of an additional parcel, located across the street from Lot 2 on the southeast corner of the same intersection. Brownstone currently has that privately owned parcel under contract.

In deciding to go forward with the project, members of the Board expressed confidence that the residents who currently use Lot 2 for parking, and would be displaced by the new housing, could be accommodated elsewhere.

While the Board discussed a number of parking scenarios, the meeting ended with a general assumption that the Village's parking deck would figure prominently in any relocation, although it was acknowledged that overnight resident parking was not intended when the deck was approved and built.

Village staff will conduct a study of current night-time parking use in the deck after work has finished on applying a sealant to the structure. That work, which required closing portions of the deck, should be completed within the next two to three weeks.